


Gratitude Is For Losers

by VengeanceAngel



Series: Whump is for Winners [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy is trying to be better, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt Steve Harrington, More like pre-friendship, Pre-Slash If You Squint, Protective Billy Hargrove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 16:02:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19016164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VengeanceAngel/pseuds/VengeanceAngel
Summary: Billy hates gratitude and he doesn't acknowledge it if given. But maybe he'll learn if he's thanked by the right person often enough and if it's sincere, he can learn to accept that he's not that bad of a guy after all.





	Gratitude Is For Losers

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to have this thing for Steve as a baseball player. If you remember the scene where he took his first swing at a demodog, you'll know why. Anyway, I hope you like this second installment in the series. Eventually maybe I'll get to full slash, but I'm kind of liking the pre-slash stuff. :)

Billy sits on the bleachers, chatting up Melissa Paulson, the biggest slut at Hawkins High. He’s had her mouth on his dick a few times, but he’s always hesitant to do much more than use his fingers on her. He’s not really sure where she’s been and he’s heard rumors that she’s got a pharmacy in her medicine cabinet. 

He purrs in pleasure as she starts running his hand down his chest and then startles as he hears a loud crack coming from the field. He looks out over the game. He’s not really a baseball fan, but seeing as Steve Harrington is on the team and he likes to mess with him, he figures that just being there could get under the other boy’s skin. At least that’s how it started. Truthfully, Harrington is good. Real good. Billy always thought that basketball was Harrington’s passion, and maybe it is, but if the guy has any smarts, he’ll dump basketball for baseball. 

Sure enough, Harrington has hit yet another home run. He stops himself from clapping and cheering because he’s just not that kind of person, but he does find the game pretty entertaining. And it's a championship game, so there are plenty of people there to cheer loud enough. This makes three home runs for Harrington in five innings and there’s a good chance that he’ll get the chance to get at least one more before the game is over. While it's not as difficult to do at this field as it is in a major league park, it's still damn impressive. He watches the other boy run the bases. Even if it’s a home run, he sprints so fast that Billy is mildly jealous. 

The rest of the game passes by quickly and he’s about to go back to wooing Melissa when he sees the pitcher grab a ball out of the air from the umpire to get ready for the next pitch. He suddenly turns and launches the ball at Steve, who had just landed his fourth home run, as he rounds third base. The pitcher is clearly agitated at the pending loss of the championship and has decided to take it out on the star player of the game. 

Billy can’t help but to stand up in shock, as do most of the spectators. The ball nails Steve right in the side and he goes down hard and he’s not getting up. Trainers race out, as do most of the Hawkins High players. The fight is pretty epic as far as high school baseball skirmishes go, but he’s more interested in what’s going on with his high school rival. He ignores Melissa and walks away as she’s in the middle of narrating the fight that he can clearly see. He’s probably pissed her off, but she’s not registering at the moment.

He jogs over to the fenced area closest to where Steve is and watches as he slowly sits up and talks to the head trainer. Billy frowns. There’s no way Steve should be up already after a hit like that, but there he is, climbing to his feet and rejecting assistance. He gives a small wave to the crowd and then the little shit limps over to home base and steps solidly on it, basically clinching the championship for the season. He sees the trainers shrug. A walking player is a healthy player, after all. The crowd goes wild and Billy claps slowly and grins, shaking his head. King Steve, indeed. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

The following Monday, he strolls into school and sees Harrington by his locker. The Wheeler chick is standing next to him with a pinched face and her gaze keeps going to his left side, where he took the hit. Billy is grateful he doesn’t have a girlfriend as he would never want a mother hen like that dogging his every move. He doesn’t see Harrington again until third period English. He sits down and stretches his legs out. He sits in his seat in back of the room and watches as people file in. 

Harrington is one of the last people and he walks in and sits down immediately. A few people congratulate him on the game, but he appears subdued to Billy. They’re writing down notes about the most recent novel they’ve been assigned when he happens to glance over at the other boy. He sees him close his eyes for just a moment and then open them again and start writing. Throughout the day, this happens again and again. Billy makes a crack about how he needs to get more sleep, but Harrington doesn’t rise to the bait. He just walks away. 

The next day in English, Billy pays closer attention and notices the slight grimace of pain when Harrington sits at his desk. It’s brief, but it’s noticeable enough if you’re looking right at him when he does it. He does it again when he’s walking down the hall. Billy watches as he stands at his locker getting his books and then stops, staying very still. The look on his face makes Billy think that he’s definitely uncomfortable. Billy chalks it up to the nasty bruise he’s probably sporting from the game. 

Lunch on Wednesday is when he decides to be kind and congratulate Steve on the baseball game. He’s been trying to be civil since the night Max threatened to de-nut him and he hadn’t had the chance to really see how he was in English. He comes up behind Steve in the lunch line and is about to grab his attention when Steve suddenly gasps. Billy frowns. Nothing is happening. They’re just standing there and for some reason, Steve is struggling. 

“Harrington?”

When Steve turns around, he looks a little green around the gills. Billy takes a step back, not wanting to get anything in case the other boy is contagious. 

“Billy? What… um, what is it?”

Billy frowns because when did Steve Harrington start using his first name again? “Congratulations on the championship. Pretty big deal… for Hawkins.”

Steve actually smiles and looks to make some snarky comment when he gasps again and grimaces. “Uh… yeah, yeah it is. Look, I don’t really have time to talk today. Thanks, though.” 

Billy watches Steve walk away without any lunch and decides to do something really stupid. He walks out with his barely hot pizza and makes his way over to the cafeteria table where Harrington is usually. Instead, he only finds Byers and Wheeler. He sits down and smiles at them both when they roll their eyes. “Hey, how’s Hawkins High’s power couple?”

“What do you want, Billy?” Nancy still has that pinched look on her face and Jonathan is making a valiant effort to ignore him while becoming incredibly interested in his sandwich. 

“I’m wondering if you’ve talked to Princess Steve today?”

Jonathan frowns at the nickname. “Why do you care if you don’t like him at all anyway?”

Billy shrugs. “Looking out for a classmate. Is that a bad thing?”

“I’ll repeat myself this one time. What do you _want_ , Billy?” Nancy crosses her arms over her chest, looking at Billy like he’s an annoying gnat that she is trying to wait out. 

“I was just looking to see whether he healed up from that hit in the baseball game. Looked nasty and I’m curious if he got a cool bruise out of it.” 

Nancy shakes her head. “Unbelievable. No, okay? He doesn’t have a bruise and he’s just fine. He supposedly got up and walked it off. The coach didn't see a reason for a follow up so why do you care?”

“Now how would you know if he has a bruise or not? You been around him with his shirt off lately?” He sees out of the corner of his eye that Jonathan has suddenly become interested in the conversation.

“No, but I asked him about it since I heard about the hit and he said that he’s fine so there. He’s fine. Go away.”

Billy nods. “Fair enough.” He grabs his lunch and dumps it in the trash before heading outside for a smoke. It irritates him for some reason to know that Wheeler wasn't even _at_ the game and she claims to be Harrington's friend. When he gets out to the bleachers, he sees Harrington sitting over on the bleachers. He walks over and sits down, frowning when he sees that Harrington isn’t even looking at him, but has his eyes closed and is breathing slowly. Billy clears his throat and watches as Steve jumps, gasps and winces. 

Steve looks over. “You surprised me.”

“Yeah? Well you’d better stay alert. Guess that’s why you got nailed with that baseball last week.” 

Steve nods. “Yeah, I should have probably been watching. That pitcher was talking shit through the whole game.”

Billy studies Steve for a minute. “Hey… you really alright from that hit? Because it was pretty nasty looking. I mentioned it to Wheeler and Byers and they insist that you’re fine.”

“You don't believe them? At least you were at the game. Thanks for coming." 

“I was there trying to get laid. The girl wasn’t interesting enough to catch my attention after that hit. And then to see you get up afterward? I didn’t think you had it in you, King Stevie?”

“Don’t call me that.” He looks at his watch. “I have to go to class. Lunch is almost over.” He stands and walks down the bleachers, Billy not too far behind him. When he gets to the last step, his breath catches and his hand ghosts over his side as if he started to touch the wound, but then thought better of it. 

Billy watches until Steve seems to get his composure. “Harrington!”

Steve turns slowly to look at Billy. “Yeah?”

“You never answered my question.”

Steve’s brow furrows. “What question?”

“Are you really alright?”

Steve shakes his head in amusement. “Glad to know you care, Hargrove. But yeah, I’m fine.”

Billy watches Steve go and lights up a cigarette. He’s not sure if Steve is lying or if he really thinks everything is good. Either way, Billy decides that it’s not his problem so he’s not going to get involved.

Thursday is more of the same but Friday proves Billy wrong about thinking that things might actually be okay with Harrington almost immediately. He gets out of his car, a little late as usual and this time Harrington is late, too. Billy smirks as Steve gets out of his car and his hair isn’t as perfect as usual. Sure, it still looks good, but Billy is glad to see that even the great King of Hawkins High has to deal with alarm issues just like the rest of the peasants. Billy lights up a cigarette and watches Steve exit his car. He’s about to yell out to him to give him shit for being late when Steve actually reaches out and grips his car, clearly steadying himself. 

Billy shakes his head. Enough is enough. He walks over to Steve’s car and is startled when Steve suddenly opens his eyes, sees Billy, and smiles. “Oh… hey, guess I’m not the only one running behind.”

Billy frowns. He knows that smile. He’s had that type of fake smile on his own face once or twice after his dad had shoved him into a bookshelf or a wall that leaves a bruise that pulls when he moves. “Seriously? You look like you’re in pain and that’s what you have to say?”

“I’m fine.” He closes his car door and walks toward the school. 

Just when Billy thinks that he’s wasting his time on a Grade A asshole, Steve turns around and looks at him for a bit. Billy frowns. “What?”

Steve looks down briefly and bites his lower lip and wow that shouldn’t make Billy sit up and take notice as much as it does. Steve looks up again. “Thanks.” He turns and walks away. 

Billy is stunned once more that someone actually appreciates something he did and he has to admit, it’s kind of nice. He walks into the school and decides that he might have to watch Steve a little closer today because clearly if he’s being nice to Billy Hargrove, he must be really out of it. 

As the day wears on, Billy sees a lot more than he would have noticed before. He feigns bathroom needs for most of his classes so he can get in the hall before the bell rings and watch Steve leave classes. He watches him after his Math class at his locker when he gasps suddenly and grips the top of his locker like it’s a lifeline. He sees him after History as he sits at his desk after everyone has left and keeps his eyes closed before opening them again, wetness pooling at the corners. He sees him in Gym as he gets knocked to the ground by Tommy, who claps Billy on the back and laughs about how the King has fallen. 

Billy watches as Steve slowly gets up and clutches at his stomach, green with nausea. He watches as Steve stumbles toward the locker room. He watches Tommy fall to the ground with a bloody nose after Billy lands a satisfying punch. And he watches as the coach points toward the locker room, dismissing Billy for the rest of class with a promise of a detention slip. 

When he gets into the locker room, he hears the shower running. He peeks in and Steve has his hands braced against the wall, his breath sounding harsh, even above the sounds of the water. Billy starts to look away, wanting to give the other boy his privacy and not wanting to be caught watching a naked Steve Harrington in the showers. 

But then he hears the whimper and he turns just in time to see Harrington bend over, hit his knees, and dry heave. Billy has had enough of the brave act and grabs a towel from the shelf as he rushes in. He turns the water off and then squats down as Steve starts to straighten up. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.” He hands Steve the towel to wrap around his waist and sees how his hands are shaking badly. Billy shakes his head. “Fuck this, you’re going to the school nurse. Something is _wrong_ with you, other than the usual.” He gets really worried when Harrington doesn’t even attempt a snappy comeback. 

As he gets them both to a bench by the lockers to sit, another gasp and whimper escape from Steve’s mouth. Billy goes to the other side of him to get to his own locker when he sees it. The small bruise that he expected to see is not small at all. It’s huge and almost black and it’s spread against the entirety of the left side of his stomach. He’s about to call Steve out on the fact that his injury is bigger than he let on when Steve suddenly lists to the left and off of the bench, unconscious. 

Billy runs to the door of the locker room, not wasting time to check on the other boy. “Help! I need help in here!” He races back to Steve and stays with him for the brief seconds it takes for everyone to crowd in. He steps back as the coach yells at someone to run to the office to call an ambulance as he also sees the bruise. As the coach starts yelling for everyone to back up, Billy grabs his clothes from the locker and runs to a bathroom down the hall, shower be damned. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

By the time he’s dressed and out the door, about 15 minutes have passed. He looks at the clock and realizes that the brats are probably getting ready to leave their own school and meet Steve in the parking lot. He sighs and jumps in his car. When he gets to the school, he sees the kids walking out to their spot near the sidewalk, where they usually are. As Max sees him, she rolls her eyes and heads over. “Billy, why are you here? I already told mom I was going to a friend’s house. Steve is picking me up so get lost.”

Billy doesn’t rise to the bait and looks over her shoulder to where the boys are all watching the exchange intently. He looks back to Max. “Come on. Let’s go talk to your friends.” He starts walking over and gets a slight thrill of pleasure as the boys’ warning and protective glares turn into looks of fear. Max trails behind him, spitting out warnings of her own. He walks over and stands in front of them and waits for Max to shut her yap, which finally happens after she tells him yet again to get the hell out of there. 

“Okay, nerds, here’s the deal. Harrington’s sick.”

Dustin frowns. “What do you mean? Sick how?”

Lucas scoffs. “Did you hurt him again?”

Billy sighs. “No, I didn’t hurt him. Look, all I know is that he’s sick and he’s probably at the hospital.” He ignores the gasps from the others. “If you think you can all shutup and squeeze into the car, I’ll take you over there. You can call your parents from a payphone there.”

There is a deafening silence as they all stare at him like he’s got a second head. The weird Byers kid is the one to break the silence with his soft voice. “Okay.”

The kids scramble for the car and jockey for position in the back seat so they don’t have to sit next to Billy. Max takes that task and then sits down as Billy gets into the car. She touches his arm lightly and then snatches it back. “Billy…”

He looks over at her. “What?” He turns his key in the ignition and turns down the radio because he doesn’t think he can handle any additional noise right now. 

“Thank you.”

Billy meets her gaze for a moment and then shrugs. “Whatever, shithead. Got nothing better to do.”

By the time they reach the hospital, he’s ready to kill the brats. They have been talking non-stop about every rare disease they can think of and how Steve might die and how they can’t live without him and on and on and on. As he watches them all race in, he leans his head back and contemplates his next move. The decision is made for him when Max yells his name. He turns and looks over and sees the others stopped at the doors. “You coming or what?”

Billy turns off the car, not willing to admit how relieved he is that he was invited to join the group, and gets out. “Sure.” 

When they get into the waiting room at the emergency department, Hopper is already there. He had heard the call out from the school and rushed over once he heard who the patient was. He answers the kids’ questions before they can ask them, his hand up to shut them up. “Look, I don’t know anything yet. I’m waiting for the doctor now.”

As if on cue, a nurse comes out and gestures to the Chief. “The doctor needs to speak to you. I’ll take you to the conference room.” She looks the others up and down. “They can wait here.”

Hopper shakes his head. “I’d rather have them with me so I don’t have to explain this all over again.” 

The nurse purses her lips, but finally agrees since it is the Chief of police who is making the request. She leads them to a room with a conference table and chairs and walks out. Billy stands in the corner as the kids finally settle on letting Max and Dustin have two of the four chairs as Hopper takes the third. The others stand on the wall opposite of him and he crosses his arms and waits. 

Within ten minutes, the door is opening and an older man with silver hair and wearing scrubs walks in and sits down. “Steve has a ruptured spleen. He’s being prepped for surgery now. We haven’t been able to reach his parents. Can you help with that, Chief?”

Hopper shakes his head. “Doubtful. I’ve never met them and my understanding is they’re not home often. I can leave a note at the house for them, though.”

Dustin speaks up. “They won’t get it. They’re out of the country for the summer. I asked Steve where they’re vacationing and he didn’t know.”

The silence stretches as each person in the room takes in how shitty the Harringtons must be. The doctor shakes his head. “He’s in a crisis situation so I don’t need their permission, but afterward…”

Hopper interrupts. “I’ll take responsibility for him afterward. Don’t worry about that.”

“Another thing… Steve has lost a lot of blood. By the looks of it, he’s had a badly bruised spleen for a few days and maybe he got bumped or fell, but it caused the rupture. I’m pretty certain that we can get him through surgery, but he will most likely need a blood transfusion afterward to help him in his recovery. We’re trying to determine his blood type, but I’m worried that I won’t have the results in by the time we need the blood. We’re running a bit low here and I’m probably going to use our last supply of O blood during surgery. If any of you know his blood type, that would really help.”

Billy realizes that Tommy’s push is probably what caused Steve’s spleen to rupture and he feels better about hitting him. 

The Party members look at each other in confusion regarding Steve’s blood type, all shaking their heads before looking back at the doctor. Dustin speaks up. “We have no idea…”

Billy knows he’s going to regret it, but he clears his throat. “I’m, uh… you know, I have that good blood. I can like… give it away to anyone.”

The doctor stands up. “You’re a universal donor? Are you certain?”

Billy nods. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay, then we’ll get him into surgery. Mr…”

“Hargrove.” 

“Mr. Hargrove, we can get you prepped. I’ll need your parents’ permission to-“

“I’m 18. You have _my_ permission.”

The doctor nods. “Good… okay, great. Thank you, young man.”

Billy shrugs. “If it gets me hero status at school, it’s worth it.”

After the doctor leaves with Hopper following to fill out some paperwork, Max crosses her arms and looks at Billy skeptically. “You’re not 18 until next month.”

Billy shrugs. “He doesn’t know that.” He walks out, leaving the kids gaping after him. 

Billy ends up giving some bullshit lie about not having his ID so he can’t get caught and Hopper vouches for him because he doesn’t want a delay in Steve getting care. 

It takes a few hours and the kids all get in touch with their parents. Max insists that she doesn’t need anyone to come for her as she has no intention of leaving until she knows Steve’s alright. She doesn’t tell them about Billy’s role as she suspects that Billy’s father will take issue with not being asked permission for the transfusion. The waiting room slowly fills as the coach checks in and then leaves after getting the update, with a grudging agreement to lift Billy’s detention as a thank you for a good deed. Billy shrugs it off and says he shouldn’t have gotten detention in the first place. 

Joyce Byers and Jonathan show up, Nancy in tow, with a promise to take Mike with them when they leave. Lucas’ family doesn’t come as they don’t want to bring the younger kids to disrupt the emergency waiting area, but they send their love. Dustin’s mother tells Lucas that she’ll take him home and that she’s gotten permission from his parents for him to spend the night. She invites the others over if they’d like and they all jump on the chance for a sleepover. Max says she’ll stay with Billy until he’s ready to go home and catch a ride with him. 

Nancy is shocked to hear that Billy’s going to help Steve and goes over to him. “Billy… thank you so much for doing this.” 

Billy scoffs at her. “Maybe if you would have gotten off your high prissy horse and listened to me when I told you something was off, we wouldn’t be in this position.” He leaves her, not caring about the tears in her eyes. 

The doctor comes for Billy and tells the others that Steve made it through surgery, but it is touch and go due to the amount of blood they found in his abdomen. Billy shoots Nancy another glare as he follows the man back. 

After more prep work, he’s finally led into a room where Steve is unconscious on a bed. He looks pale, almost white, and Billy has to look away, reminded too much of his last moments with his mother. He gently caresses the pendant around his neck as a sour-faced nurse inserts the needle and tapes the area to keep it from moving. She does the same with Steve and checks the connection before going to a chair in the corner in order to keep a close eye on the procedure. 

Billy isn’t sure if he takes a short nap, but it doesn’t seem to take very long before Steve is stirring. Billy looks over in time to see Steve gasp and clutch at his side. The nurse is up quickly. “No, no, young man. Don’t touch.” She frowns. “We didn’t give you anything more after surgery because we didn’t know if you were allergic to something. Do you know if you’re allergic to any medications?”

Steve squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head. “Not… not allergic. Please…. Please, it hurts.”

The nurse rushes out and Billy watches, unnoticed, as Steve gasps and lets out a shuddering sob, his fingers lingering just above the area where he’d been cut open. His eyes close and tears start streaming down his face, collected by his now messy hair. He lets out another cry and is full on weeping now. 

Billy glares at the doorway, wondering what’s taking the nurse so fucking long. He gets up and goes over to Steve. He touches his arm lightly. “Hey, pretty boy.”

Steve’s eyes snap open and he looks up at Billy. “Get… get away from me.” He tries to turn his face away, humiliated at being seen in this state. 

Billy knows this feeling, the one where being seen as vulnerable eats your insides out. He chooses to offer a little mercy. “It’s okay to cry, you know.”

Steve shakes his head as another sob rips through him. “I said get away from me!”

Billy smirks. “Can’t. Tied to you. Guess we’re blood brothers now.” He holds up his arm as Steve turns back, confused. His eyes widen as he sees the tube. “Yeah, looks like I saved your ass. Who’s the king of Hawkins now?” He smiles and goes back over to the bed to lie down just as the nurse comes back and administers the medication. Billy glares at her. “Took you long enough.”

The nurse purses her lips and shakes her head, choosing to ignore him. “Okay, Mr. Harrington. This should take effect quickly. You rest and I’ll be back shortly to disconnect you from…” She looks over in disapproval. “…him.”

Billy grins at her and licks at his teeth in a lewd gesture. The woman huffs out a breath, scandalized, and stomps out of the room. He closes his eyes, listening as Harrington’s soft sobs start to happen less frequently and then stop altogether.

“Billy?” The blonde opens his eyes and frowns at the familiar use of his name. The rare times when Steve uses it, it makes his stomach do a slight flip flop, but he isn’t sure why and never bothers to dig deeper to find out, thinking that it might lead him into dangerous territory that he’s not ready to discover. 

“What?”

Steve smiles slightly at him, eyes still wet and just a little glassy. “What you did for me… checking on me, helping me in the locker room… and I saw you… at the game. I saw you come over. And now this…” He takes a deep breath as he starts to get sleepy, his words beginning to slur. He focuses his look on Billy and his eyes soften. “Billy… thank you. Thank you… so much….”

He turns away. “Don’t thank me, Harrington. I did it to impress a hot nurse. Your recovery is just a side benefit for you.”

Steve doesn’t respond and Billy looks at the ceiling and considers the kind look that Steve fucking Harrington just gave him. It was nice and new for him. And he starts to think that maybe _he’s_ the Grade A asshole in this scenario and maybe, for once, he doesn’t have to be. “Hey… Harrington?” He looks over and sees Steve’s face is turned slightly away from him. When Steve doesn’t turn around, Billy rolls his eyes. “Steve?”

Billy listens and hears the deep, even breathing alerting him to the fact that Steve is asleep. He smiles gently and gets up, walking over to him. He looks peaceful and not in pain for once. Billy brushes some hair away from his face that had been stuck there with the wetness of the brunette’s tears. 

“You’re welcome.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!


End file.
